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Oh…so many. "She thinks I'm too serious, and I need to lighten up. Enjoy the Christmas spirit." Enjoy you.
He was quiet for a moment, then he levered himself off the wall and walked across the room. He grabbed a chair, swung it around so it was backwards, then he slung his leg over and sat on it. He braced his arms over the back and leaned over it, a position of raw, relaxed masculinity that made her belly turn over. "I've been wanting a word with you about that."
She raised her brows. "Have you?"
"I have." He rubbed his jaw. "Look, Sascha, I don't know all the details about what you're running from, but I know enough to know that it wasn't easy. All the Harts have been through 'not easy,' and I get it."
She bit her lip, not wanting to talk about it.
But he didn't ask for details. "I want you to know that I will never trap you. I will never take away your freedom. And I will never ever use Gabriella as a weapon in our relationship. She's an awesome kid with a soul that deserves to fly."
"She is. She's my world."
"And you are hers. I'll never interfere in that."
Sofia nodded, fighting back the emotion clogging her throat. Had she been that obvious about her fear of losing her daughter to the glitz of the Hart life? She focused on the puppy on her lap, and as she did, his words floated through her mind. Our relationship. What did he mean? As cordial co-parents? As something more?
She didn't care.
But she did. Life was short, too short, and there was no way for her to lie to herself about her reaction to him. She looked at him, testing the waters ever-so-cautiously. "Alice wanted me to know you're a very good man, and I can trust you with Gabby. And…" with me. She couldn't bring herself to say it.
He tipped the chair forward, so he was leaning down toward her. "Sascha," he said gently. "Ever since my mom died and I hit the streets and met Brody and the others, my entire life has been about the family we build. I would give my life to protect them, and you and Gabby are in that circle now. Our circle. Whatever you need, whether it's help, space, or whatever."
She looked away, at the Christmas lights blinking on the side porch. "Keegan."
After a moment of waiting for her to continue, he said, "I'm listening."
She looked back at him. "I owe you a lot of explanations—"
"No. You don't owe me anything."
"But—"
"Look," he said. "I'll be honest, I'm burning like hell to find out what happened, and there's a part inside me that feels pretty…" he paused.
"Angry? Furious? Bitter? Like you hate me?"
"Emotional," he supplied, leaving the exact nature of the emotions unspoken. "I still have a lot to process, and to talk about with you, but I'm a survivor, like my siblings, so I recognize and respect what it takes. You did what you had to do to survive, to help your kid thrive. I'm not going to bust on that. It goes against every grain in my body."
She bit her lip and scratched Millie's head, trying to wrap her heart around his words. He sounded like he meant them, but how could he? She'd done too much, gone too far. There was no way he could really forgive her, let alone want to protect her.
"Sascha. Look at me."
Reluctantly, she raised her gaze. "What?"
"It kills me to see that look of fear in your eyes. Fear of me? Of what? How can I take that away so that you can breathe? So you can smile? So you can trust the magic of us being brought together again?"
Magic? She laughed. "Magic? You think it's magic we were brought together? It's a teenager, Keegan."
"No." He shook his head. "There was a reason for it, Sascha. We both know it." He smiled. "You were the free spirit that kept me going all these years. You showed me that I can have fun and be happy even when the shit is raining down around me. And this time, it's my turn to clear the boulders out of your way so you can find that, too."
She stared at him, startled by his words. "Seriously?"
"Yeah." He inched the chair closer. "I've thought about you almost every day for the last seventeen years, Sascha. I wasn't sure if I was making you into something more than you were, but I wasn't." He leaned in. "You're still magical to me, Sascha. Give us this chance."
She blinked. "A chance? Us a chance? Like us? You want us to have a chance?" She couldn’t keep the shock out of her face. "You mean, you and me, together? As a couple?"
"Yes."
